|
Author: Cathy Goodwin Article source: http://www.businesshighlight.org/. Used with author's permission.
Griselda spent hours polishing up her resume. No detail was too small: type face, layout and spacing. She weighed each word, counted each comma. She sent out 200 resumes and received no responses.
Reginald spent even more hours designing the most perfect website for his new business. Working with a highly recommended web designer, he chose colors, graphics, and layout. He agonized over products to offer his clients. After the site was launched, nobody came -- and visitors flew away, like bumblebees from a flower, taking free honey and moving on.
Griselda and Reginald are intelligent, motivated people. They turned their intelligence and motivation to designing a perfect product -- not conducting research on what the market wants.
Why? Testing the market is difficult -- sometimes impossible. Ideally, you will find at least six people who resemble those in your target market. I encourage clients to choose people who can offer you candid opinions. When you keep hearing, "This is wonderful," you haven't found the right resources.
Some newbie entrepreneurs hold focus groups or idea parties, complete with refreshments. That's a great idea if you can pull it off. Communication is contagious. When one person begins to be critical, the rest will follow.
Career-changers need to network (there's the n-word again!) to identify experienced managers who can help them evaluate their job campaign. You need to convey the message, "I'm one of you! I belong in your industry."
o Here are some questions to get started:
o Who are your ideal clients -- or employers, if you're changing jobs?
o How do they make decisions? Impulsively? Over time? After consultation with others?
o What information will influence the buying decision?
o Imagine that your ideal client (or employer) has just hired you and is absolutely delighted with your services. How will she or he describe you to a colleague?
o What are the hot buttons to use -- and to avoid?
How to Get Started:
NewAsk a quick question
Free weekly Your Next Move Ezine
Hire Cathy Goodwin as your writing coach
Promote Your Website Free: A do-it-yourself workbook
Mastering Five Writing Challenges: a free ecourse
Cathy's Self-Help Book: Making the Big Move About The Author
Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals take their First step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com.
"Ten secrets of mastering a major life change" mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.com
Contact: cathy@cathygoodwin.com 505-534-4294
Wedding Theme Planning - Ethnic Wedding Traditions Have you considered having an ethnic theme wedding? It's a wonderful way to incorporate your heritage and personalize your wedding day.
How to Cope With Stress and Strain Yoga, music, pet care, etc. can keep you away from mental stress and strain.
Combating a Negative Attitude Everyone gets down in the dumps occasionally. We have our ups and downs, our successes and failures. We just naturally feel positive some times and negative at ...
How I Got Hundreds Of Links To My Website Discover how to increase search engine ranking of your website by using a little-known method to get hundreds of links pointing to your website at no cost.
Keys To Prosperity Is it possible to get rich quick using the power of your mind? Sometimes, I think the only people getting rich are the authors of bestsellers with titles such a...
Little Helpers in the Holiday Kitchen Children of all ages love to help in the kitchen, especially for big events and holidays. Here are suggestions of ways they can help in the kitchen while also ...
Organic SEO: Patience For Long Term Ranking Results When does long term SEO show ranking results? It takes time for optimization to produce targeted traffic to your website. Organic SEO requires time to take effe...
Why Pay For Credit Repair Services – Do It Yourself Looking for credit repair services? Be careful.
Your Body is Your Temple--Treat it That Way You've heard this statement many times: Your body is your temple. What does that mean? And how can we take care of it?
The Benefits of Adjustable Air Beds Adjustable airbeds are adjustable beds for which the firmness of the mattress can be adjusted. The mattress can be made firm or soft as per the liking and comfo...
Finding The Right Blog Template A blog template is the format in which the blog will appear and how it can be used. If you are designing your website and want to include a blog, you will want...
Caring for Your Customers You probably think I am going to say something like, "The customer is always right." Right?? Wrong. I have many philosophies when dealing with customers, but I...
Fear: Control It Before It Controls You! A little motivation, desire, and a belief in yourself will do wonders to help eliminate your fears.
Benchmark Study of Email Database Services FreshAddress, Inc., a leading email services provider, released the industry's first benchmark data on email appending and ECOA (Email Change of Address) soluti...
Top Tips for First Time Home Buyers Advice to Help When You're Buying a Home: First time home buyers might feel better to know that they're not the only ones who feel confused about the process o...
Top Ten Things My Six Year-Old Son Has Taught Me (So Far...) I've learned numerous, important lessons on life, motherhood and men by being the mommy of a little boy...
New Style Network Marketing - Why Professionals are Rushing to Join! There is absolutely no doubt. Network marketing or MLM is now attracting a new type of person. The wave of new style network marketing is having an unprecede...
The Benefits of Breastfeeding Breastfeeding is one of the most intimate times that a mother and child can share. It's no secret that breastfeeding is beneficial, but scientists are discover...
The Future of Voiceovers: Hold Your Tongue...Possibly Forever "Do we need to cast a voice-over talent for this project?" Very soon producers could be pondering whether their productions need a voice over talent for a distu...
The Chi of New Homes: Feng Shui-ness and Destiny When my wife and I were searching for a new Las Vegas home in 2002, we wanted it to have a solid foundation based on Feng Shui principles. My wife researched th...
5 Steps to Getting on Top of your Mortgage Loan Reduction Strategies to get on top of your Mortgage Repayments
Article Writing Mistakes - 7 To Avoid Making your articles available for reprints by other ezine publishers and webmasters is the cornerstone strategy in building an avalanche of pre-qualified visit...
By Now, Im an Expert at Memory Loss I sat down to write my weekly humor column, but I just could not remember what I wanted to write about. This seems to be an increasingly more common affliction...
Whirlpool Baths: The Way To Good Health Why not improve your health from the comfort of your own home? Read on to find out how...
|